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Rhia'lien
A death world on the edge of the Viglius sector, Rhia'lien (formerly Rhian) was only occupied by the Imperium for it's rich ore deposits. Abandoned by the Imperium upon the ore drying up, the humans stuck on the planet were only too eager to accept the Tau's offer of aid. Geography Rhia'lien is a planet mostly covered by harsh sandy deserts and a single large saline ocean. Most water not in the ocean is in small oasis or underground severely limiting the inhabitable territory. Surrounding the ocean is a vast jungle, filled with toxic plants and venomous animals, prolonged habitation is next to impossible. Flora and Fauna Rhia'lien is a planet full of plants and animals unique to itself. Most of these are extremely dangerous and hostile, especially within the jungle. Fauna Animals unique to Rhia'lien include: * Sand Hives - A strange form of what is assumed to be insects, the Sand Hives are composed of hundreds of billions or more of nearly microscopic animals that appear as a red cloud. Preying upon anything that strays too near the large stone hollow cones that make up their home, flesh appears to disintegrate upon contact with the Hive. Capable of even entering vehicles via air intakes and minute cracks in plating to devour the inhabitants, the Hives are avoided by the people upon the planet at all cost. * Toxic Penna - One of the more common animals within the planet's jungle, Toxic Penna are similar to Terran avians and hunt in large flocks. While they generally avoid humans unless no other food source is available, the worst part of the Toxic Penna is the fact that they are toxic for humans to eat and their feathered wings spread a poisonous dust capable of making humans ill. * ''Rhian Oxen ''- One of the few indicators of previous human habitation of Rhia'lien, Rhian Oxen can be easily traced back to the cattle of ancient Terra. Adapted to the environment either by deliberate engineering or thousands of years of adaption, they are one of the primary food sources on Rhian. Capable of eating the toxic plants of the jungles, their meat is also naturally poisonous to humans but the toxins can be neutralized through sufficient heat making it edible. Flora History Found by the Imperium in the years before the Horus Heresy. The planet's harsh deserts and poisonous jungles caused it to originally be designated uninhabitable. Upon Mechanicus scans revealing vast ore deposits underneath the surface, the opinions of the Imperium rapidly changed. Sending settlers to set up mines and food productions, the planet was forgotten as the Horus Heresy began. Only when the fires of the civil war settled did the Imperial forces return to see how the settlers were faring. While the mines had been set up as well as had been planned, any form of land not too dry or poisonous for farming was almost impossible to find, and many of the settlers had starved. In order to support the mines, food had to be shipped in from the sector's agri-worlds while looking for a edible food source on the planet. Post Heresy During the millennia that followed the Heresy, many continued to doubt the importance of Rhian to the sector. Given it's distance from any of the other Imperial planets, it was difficult for the Sector battlefleet to properly patrol. Even after enough native edible plants and animals were found to make it self-sufficient in terms of food, only the steady stream of ore from the planet justified it's inclusion in the Sector. Most of this ore was mined from the planets mountain ranges and the systems two asteroid belts, with the majority of the ore going to Ivaldi Primus and the manufactorums of Turbela. Most of the planets inhabitants lived near the mines, in cities built around the great greenhouses needed to feed the planet. A small percentage of the population, (about 10%), roamed around the jungles raising herds of Rhian Oxen, occasionally traveling to the cities to trade. Burning Blood Crusade In 776.M39 a blood crusade led by a World Eaters warband carved its way through the Ultima Segmentum, eventually reaching the far south west corner of Vigilius, reaching the planet Rhian. Making planetfall, the warband easily swept aside the planet's defenses, and the planet's distance from the rest of the Imperial planets delayed reinforcements. Eventually a battlegroup of the Vigilius Battlefleet arrived in system and landed several regiments of Imperial Guard on the planet. On Rhian they found that the populations of the cities had already been massacred and the adepts of Khorne had used the blood of their victims to summon a daemonic legion of the Blood God. The Chaotic berserkers, always ready for another battle, didn't hesitate to attack the Imperial Guard, and aided by the daemons began to easily slaughter their human opponents. Only the arrival of the Ashen Thanes Space Marine chapter, in pursuit of their most hated foes, turned the tides of battle. What happened after their arrival is not entirely well recorded in Imperial history. What is known is that the majority of the Chaos forces were slain by the Ashen Thanes with only a small part of the Chaos fleet escaping. All the Imperial guard regiments were apparently killed to a man, with only the Ashen Thanes astartes making it off the planet. After the battle, the Chapter Master of the Ashen Thanes, King Eiglium went to the Senetorum Vigilius and demanded that the planet Rhian be declared a forbidden world. Given the fact that the system had been running dry on ore for decades, and their own fear of offending a well renowned Space Marine chapter, the Senate used this as an excuse to write off Rhian for good. After the Space Marines left however, rumors began circulating from the Sector Battlefleet that some of the Imperial Guard regiments had survived, but had been killed by the Astartes because of something that they had found on the planet. Whatever they found had been so bad that they had decided to put the planet under quarantine. Survivors Not everybody on Rhian had been killed. Those who lived away from the cities had been spared from the slaughter, but suddenly found themselves abandoned by the Imperium. Deciding to never resettle the blood stained cities, the survivors only ever visited to loot it. Living near the edges of the jungles, the survivors did their best to build new cities and new greenhouses to grow more food. Without the aid of the Mechanicus however they had only little idea of how to build them and only got limited use of them. Furthermore, while they had been able to salvage a great deal of weapons and gear from the battlefields, they had no way of producing more or even repairing them when they broke. Category:Vigilius sector Category:Tau Empire Category:Death Worlds